Method and apparatus for assembling and disassembling various artillery and mortar shells



Jan. 18, 1966 T. D. JONES ETAL 3,

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING AND DISASSEMBLING VARIOUS ARTILLERY AND MORTAR SHELLS Filed Sept. 16, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 x INVENTORS= H THOMAS 0. JONES BY JOHN L. IPPLEZP: A 1. J

' ATTORNEYS WM m mmm m a w 7 m Wm W D. S W m m L MM A Q W mm 0? i B T. D. JONES ETAL S FORASSEMBLING AND DISASSEMB VARIOUS ARTILLERY AND MORTAR SHELLS METHOD AND APPARATU Nesting Station |9 Jan. 18, 1966 Filed Sept. 16, 1964 Station Loading 3,229,561 BLING Jan. 18, 1966 T. D. JONES ETAL METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING AND DISASSEM VARIOUS ARTILLERY AND MORTAR SHELLS 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 16, 1964 INVENTORS= THOMAS D. JONES JOHN L. S PPLE ATTORNEYS gld? Jan. 18, 1966 T. D. JONES ETAL 3,229,561

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING AND DISASSEMBLING VARIOUS ARTILLERY AND MORTAR SHELLS Filed Sept. 16. 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 rfl g 6 n (TTI INVENTORS: 2 THOMAS D. JONES m A r M; JOHN L. SIPPLE ATTORNEY United States Patent OfiFice 3,229,561 Patented Jan. 18, 1966 3,229,561 METHOD AND APPARATUS FGR ASSEMBLTNG AND DISASSEMBLING VARIOUS ARTILLERY AND MORTAR SHELLS Thomas D. Jones, Wharton, and John L. Sipple, Netcong,

N.J., assignors to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed Sept. 16, 1964, Ser. No. 397,047 9 Claims. (Cl. 8620) (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a method for assembling and disassembling shells and more particularly concerns safe methods of loading advanced artillery and mortar type shells having explosive clusters contained therein.

Various machines are available for the satisfactory loading, reloading and assembling of conventional type shells. In the assembling and disassembling of shells of the type contemplated by this invention however, i.e., those employing preassembled clusters of high explosive items, no highly safe and eflicient machine or methods are known.

It is therefore a broad object of this invention to provide a method of loading preassembled clusters of high explosive items into shells.

Another object of the invention is to provide safe and efficient methods of inserting and positioning loose high explosive items into artillery and mortar shells and of inserting and sealing the base plug of the shell to seal it from air and moisture.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a method of disassembling the assembled shell in a minimum of time with maximum safety.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a machine for accomplishing the aforementioned object.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the figures thereof and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partially sectioned view of an embodiment of the machine of our invention and constitutes one of the two loading stations.

FIG. 2 shows a canister type shell which is merely illustrative of an item which may be loaded in accordance with our invention.

FIG. 3 shows rail networks interconnecting the various stations employed in our invention.

FIG. 4 is a partial side view of the machine of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5A is a plan view of preassembled clustered high explosive items to be loaded into shells in accordance with our invention.

FIGS. 53 and 5C show different stages in the loading of the items of FIG. 5A.

FIG. 5D is a plan view of the locating means shown in FIGS. 1 and 4.

FIG. 6 shows a loaded canister type shell being readied for disassembly and constitutes the pressing station of our invention.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a canister type smoke shell 10 as an example of an item which may be loaded and assembled in accordance with our invention. The shell contains 10 canisters although the invention will accommodate any convenient number. The base plug of the shell is shown at 11 and its nose at 12.

Empty shells to be assembled are transported to one of two nesting stations 16 of FIG. 3. The empty shell will be placed base end up into a nest 18 and then rolled along a track network 19, supported on table 20 (FIG. 1) to one of two loading stations 21.

When the shell is properly loaded, it will be rolled along the track network to a central pressing station 22. Thereafter the assembled shell will be rolled off the tracks as a completed item.

More specifically, the nest 18 is open at its upper and lower ends and is secured to a base plate 25 by screws 27, the base plate including a plurality of balls 29 urged downwardly by spring 31 contained within a recess 32 of nest 18. Balls 29 permit the entire nest assembly to roll freely on rail network 19. As will be described more fully hereinafter, upon application of pressure to the shell within the nest, base plate 25 will be caused to solidly contact table 20, spring 32 will be compressed and the balls will no longer be free to roll along the rails.

With nest 18 properly located at the loading station (means for accurately locating the nest will be described later) and empty shell ill contained therein, lead or jack screw 33 will be raised through well-known gear drive mechanism shown generally at 34 by turning machine wheel 35 through handle 36. The gear drive mechanism includes, among others, a gear drive housing 37, gear screw 38 coacting with gear 39 and threaded bushing 40, bearing 41 and bearing housing 42. Bushing 40 rotates around jack screw 33 and causes the latter to move upwardly or downwardly depending upon the direction of rotation of wheel 35 but the jack screw itself does not rotate.

The jack screw 33 is keyed at 44 as is screw guide 45 and a key inserted therebetween insures non-rotation of the jack screw.

After jack screw 33 is raised sufiiciently, an ejection plate 46 will be mounted thereto by means of a locating nest assembly 47 therebetween. The locating nest is affixed to the uppermost portion of screw 33 and comprises an adapter 48 (FIG. 5D) having a C-shaped lip 49 and a stud 50 for vertical insertion into the jack screw. An insert member 51 may be screwed to the adapter at 52 such that a D-shaped opening is presented, or, alternatively the adapter and insert could be fabricated as an integral item. The stud 50 is secured in a recess in the jack screw by a dowel pin 53. Ejection plate 46, which is circular in shape, fits neatly within the shell and has a central D shaped flange 54 at its lowermost portion for reception within the D-opening of the locating nest assembly and thus assuring proper alignment and orientation of the jack screw and the ejection plate within the shell.

The shell is now ready to be loaded with high-explosive clustered items 55 shown in FIG. 5A. The items are preassembled into a stacking ring 56, each individual cluster having a safety pin 57 associated therewith. The clusters have the configuration as shown and are shaped so as to be capable of being interlocked in position and providing a more destructive unit than conventionally shaped charges and a more devastating anti-personnel effect as well as covering broader areas.

The stacking ring with clusters will be placed on the base end of the shell and rotated until the lower end of the clusters mates with the upper portion of the ejection plate as shown in FIG. 5B, the ejection plate having been raised to its approximate desired height.

Ram 60 of the machine is provided with a gage ring 62 which is bolted to a ram pad 64 suitably afiixed to the ram. The ram pad is provided with a central hole sufiiciently large to avoid contacting safety pins 57 while its outer diameter as well as that of the gage ring are small enough to pass within the stacking ring 56 and shell 10. The ram pad is shaped to mate the upper configuration of the clustered items. The gage ring and pad are capable of alignment with the clusters by virtue of ram 60 being keyed at 70 through guide bar assembly 74 to prevent any undesirable rotation of the ram and to maintain alignment of the ram pad and ejection plate.

The machine is provided with many safety features and enables an operator, in practicing our invention, to load the aforementioned high-explosive clustered items with no danger of misfire. For example, dual hand controls prevent any clusters in the armed condition from being accidentally ejected from the shell. This is accomplishedby means of' a clamping cylinder 80 "'or' safety brake, i.e., should an operator leave the machine unattended, the jack screw will not permit itself to be raised to eject the armed clusters unless the dual band controls are worked. Additionally, an air valve assembly 82 allows the operator to remove his hands from the dual controls in any emergency causing the upper air cylinder (not shown) to force ram 60 upwardly rather than to impact the sensitive clustered items.

Thus the jack screw 33 can be controlled to remain locked by virtue of clamping cylinder 80 until ram pad 64 actually touches the clustered items. With the ram pad in position, and a preset pressure on the air cylinder not to exceed about 2 tons dead load and the clamping lock released, handle 36 will be rotated in a counterclockwise direction to lower the jack screw and permitting the ram to move downwardly until the upper portion of the gage ring 62 becomes flush with the upper portion of the stacking ring 56.

At this point, the operator is assured of the passage of the clustered items through the stacking ring and into proper position within the shell. The ram is now caused to be released to its original position, the stacking ring removed and the clustered items will have assumed the position shown in FIG. 5C.

A safety ring 88 will now be placed within the shell as shown and resting on clusters 55. The lower portion of the safety ring is shaped similar to the corresponding part of the ram pad, i.e., about /2 of the surface is provided with a recessed area. With the safety ring in place, removal of safety pins 57 is easily accomplished by plac ing a pryer or any screw driver like tool over the rim of the safety ring 88 and using it as a fulcrum to uplift the safety pins. Used in this manner the danger of ejecting clusters is held to a minimum. Removal of the safety pins at this point is done in complete safety since the clusters are confined within the shell.

The safety ring will now be removed and another stackmg ring including clustered items placed on the shell and the identical procedure followed until the required number of cluster sets are loaded within the shell.

Referring now to FIG. 6 which shows the clustered explosives in place within the shell, a washer or spacer 90 is inserted over the uppermost clustered set and is recessed at its underside to mate therewith.

The shell is now ready to be rolled on the track, as indicated by the arrows of FIG. 3, to a central pressing station 22, where a standard base plug 11 will be pressed into the loaded shell above spacer 90. The plug is interference fitted at a dead load of about 6 tons, which greatly exceeds the pressure permitted at either loading station for safety reasons.

In the event a shell requires disassembly, a tapered metal ring 92 will be placed around the base end of the shell as shown and a punch 94 fitted thereover. With jack screw 33 maintained in supporting position, pressure from the ram head 96 of pressing station 22 will cause ring 92 to move slightly downwardly along the tapered part of the base of the shell and generally simultaneously ejecting base plug 11 into space 98' provided within the punch.

The plugless shell may now be rolled back to a loading station, spacer removed, safety pins re-inserted into each of the uppermost clusters and an empty stacking ring placed on the shell base.

The clustered items will be re-seated into their original position within the stacking ring by merely raising the jack screw while the stacking ring is held immovable by the ram and another ring interposed therebetween, the upper ring having an inside diameter slightly larger than that of the stacking ring. The jack screw will now be backed off and the stacked ring removed. The safety pins will be inserted in the next row of clusters and the procedure repeated until the shell is completely disassembled.

Stripper plates 9797 are bolted to table 20 and are "generally coextensive with base plate 2516 restrict 'its upward movement during disassembly.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood, that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

We claim:

1. A method for assembling high explosive items into an empty shell having an open base end and an open nose end and comprising the steps of,

placing the nose end of said shell downwardly into a receiving nest,

inserting elevating means into said shell upwardly through its nose end,

said elevating means having a locating nest afiixed thereto at its uppermost portion,

mounting ejection means onto said locating nest for orienting high explosive items to be loaded within the shell,

loading a first high explosive item through the base end of said shell onto said ejection means,

compressing said first item onto said ejections means,

moving said first item and ejection means downwardly a predetermined distance,

loading a second high-explosive item through the base end of said shell onto said first item,

compressing said second item onto said first item,

repeating said loading and compressing steps until said shell is completely loaded,

removing said elevating means and locating nest from said shell and pressing a base plug into said base end of said shell.

2. A method for assembling a plurality of preassembled high explosive items containing safety pins and confined within a stacking ring into an empty shell having an open base end and an open nose end, said shell having an inside diameter generally similar to that of said stacking ring and comprising the steps of,

placing the nose end of said shell downwardly into a receiving nest,

inserting elevating means into said shell upwardly through its nose end,

said elevating means having a locating nest affixed thereto at its uppermost portion, mounting ejection means onto said locating nest for orienting said high explosive items to be loaded within said shell,

placing said stacking ring on the base end of sa1d shell and rotating said ring until items contained therewithin are in predetermined orientation with respect to said ejection means,

locking the position of said elevating means relative to said shell,

applying pressure downwardly upon the upper surface of said explosive items,

unlocking and lowering said elevating means a predetermined distance such that said explosive items are passed through said stacking ring and confined within said shell,

removing said downwardly applied pressure, removing the empty stacking ring,

removing the safety pins from said loaded explosive items,

placing another stacking ring containing preassembled high explosive items on the base end of the shell and rotating the ring until the items contained therewithin are in predetermined orientation with respect to the explosive items directly therebelow,

repeating the latter six steps until said shell is loaded,

and

pressing a base plug into said base end of said shell.

3. The method of claim 2 further characterized by said explosive items comprising a plurality of clusters, said clusters presenting an upper and lower surface of interlocking configuration.

4. The method of claim 3 further characterized by an additional step of inserting a spacer above the uppermost row of explosive clusters, said spacer having a lower surface which interlocks with the upper surface of said clusters.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said elevating means comprises a jack screw.

6. The method claim 4 wherein said locating nest comprises an adapter and cooperating insert to provide a D- shaped opening for aligning said ejection means.

7. A method for assembling a plurality of preassembled high explosive items containing safety pins and confined within a stacking ring into an empty shell having an open base end and an open nose end, said shell having an inside diameter generally similar to that of said stacking ring, and comprising the steps of,

placing the nose end of said shell downwardly into a receiving nest,

raising a jack screw into said shell through its nose end,

said jack screw having a locating nest alfixed thereto at its uppermost portion,

mounting ejection means onto said locating nest for orienting said high explosive items to be loaded within said shell,

placing said stacking ring on said base end of said shell and rotating said ring until the explosive items contained therewithin are in predetermined orientation with respect to said ejection means,

locking the position of said jack screw relative to said shell,

applying pressure downwardly upon said explosive items,

unlocking and lowering the jack screw whereby downward pressure forces said explosive items through the stacking ring and into said shell, said lowering of the jack screw controlling the rate and distance of descent of said explosive items into the shell,

removing said downwardly applied pressure, removing the empty stacking ring,

removing the safety pins from said loaded explosive items, placing another stacking ring containing preassembled high explosive items on the base end of the shell and rotating the ring until the items contained therewithin are in predetermined orientation with respect to the explosive items directly therebelow,

repeating the foregoing procedure until said shell is loaded, and

pressing a base plug into said base end. of said shell.

8. A method for removing the base plug in a shell loaded in accordance with claim 7 and comprising the step of applying transverse pressure to the base end of the shell at a plane slightly below said plug for upward ejection thereof.

9. An apparatus for loading an assembly of high explosive items into an empty shell having an open base end and an open nose end, said apparatus comprising means for receiving said shell open nose end,

elevating means passable through said shell through said nose end, I

means aflixed to an uppermost end of said elevating means, for locating said elevating means within said shell,

means mounted on said locating means for ejecting said items, and

means for applying pressure downwardly on said items to efiect loading.

References (Jited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,390,849 9/1921 Wennerstrom 8620.1 1,681,181 8/ 1928 Fulton 8620.2 2,129,508 9/1938 Slusser 8620.1 2,345,552 4/1944 Ballou 86-30 2,350,181 5/ 1944 Morgan 8631 2,630,041 3/1953 Perry et al. 86-30 BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner, R. V. LOTTMANN, Assistant Examiner, 

1. A METHOD FOR ASSEMBLING HIGH EXPLOSIVE ITEMS INTO AN EMPTY SHELL HAVING AN OPEN BASE END AND AN OPEN NOSE END AND COMPRISING THE STEPS OF, PLACING THE NOSE END OF SAID SHELL DOWNWARDLY INTO A RECEIVING NEST, INSERTING ELEVATING MEANS INTO SAID SHELL UPWARDLY THROUGH ITS NOSE END, SAID ELEVATING MEANS HAVING A LOCATING NEST AFFIXED THERETO AT ITS UPPERMOST PORTION, MOUNTING EJECTION MEANS ONTO SAID LOCATING NEST FOR ORIENTING HIGH EXPLOSIVE ITEMS TO BE LOADED WITHIN THE SHELL, LOADING A FIRST HIGH EXPLOSIVE ITEM THROUGH THE BASE END OF SAID SHELL ONTO SAID EJECTION MEANS, COMPRESSING SAID FIRST ITEM ONTO SAID EJECTIONS MEANS, MOVING SAID FIRST ITEM AND EJECTION MEANS DOWNWARDLY A PREDETERMINED DISTANCE, LOADING A SECOND HIGH-EXPLOSIVE ITEM THROUGH THE BASE END OF SAID SHELL ONTO SAID FIRST ITEM, COMPRESSING SAID SECOND ITEM ONTO SAID FIRST ITEM, REPEATING SAID LOADING AND COMPRESSING STEPS UNTIL SAID SHELL IS COMPLETELY LOADED, REMOVING SAID ELEVATING MEANS AND LOCATING NEST FROM SAID SHELL AND PRESSING A BASE PLUG INTO SAID BASE END OF SAID SHELL. 